India Institute seeks seed grant proposals

The Johns Hopkins Gupta-Klinsky India Institute is seeking seed grant proposals for its Breakthrough Research Grants Program. Up to three proposals will receive $50,000 each for their efforts to address non-communicable diseases and disorders through interdisciplinary collaborations with India-based research institutes. Letters of intent are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14, and proposals must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Nov. 11.

These projects will follow an 18-month timeline, with work commencing in January 2023. Successful proposals will address innovative ways of preventing and controlling non-communicable diseases in India or will outline strategies for advancing India's research and development agenda.

"We are excited to bring the best minds together from India and JHU to work on non-communicable diseases of global significance such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, air pollution, and injury prevention, to name a few," said Amita Gupta, a professor of medicine and public health and director of the division of infectious diseases who is the faculty co-chair of the GKII. "The world urgently needs productive partnerships to solve these problems of global significance. Such grants are catalytic and excellent return on investments. We cannot wait to see what great ideas our Indo-JHU partnerships come up with!"

Added David Peters, Edgar Berman Chair of International Health and GKII faculty co-chair: "The growth of non-communicable diseases and ways to address them are complex issues that really benefit from interdisciplinary approaches. These breakthrough grants provide great opportunities to build interdisciplinary collaborations with Indian and Hopkins teams to tackle NCDs in creative ways."

Launched in 2021, the GKII seeks to advance knowledge and health and to develop world-changing ideas by facilitating partnerships between Hopkins faculty, staff, students, and alumni and India's government, private sector, academia, and NGOs. Housed under the Office of the Provost, the institute includes experts in medicine, public health, nursing, engineering, economics, business, data science, artificial intelligence, public policy, social sciences, and humanities.

This is the first of what the institute expects to be annual seed grant cycles. Funds are intended for research support, including but not limited to: technical support, lab supplies, assays, travel costs, student costs and limited research equipment. Salary support may be requested.